I'll buck the trend here and go for 'Cromwell'.

Richard Harris earns his fee by turning up everywhere where Cromwell didn't. 
He wasn't one of the five who were in danger of arrest in the House of Commons.  He didn't lead major formations of troops at Edgehill.  He was still only a Captain of Horse and turned up, only at the very end of the battle.  He never led the New Model Army until the Second Civil War (Fairfax was the Lord General). 

Other 'good' mistakes are,
The House of Commons and Lords sitting in the same chamber.
At Edgehill, the Royalists are seen wearing smart uniforms and the Parliamentarians ordinary plain, drab clothes.  In fact it was the other way around as Parliament was the side with all the money.  The flags should be of the same design also.  Some Parliamentarian infantry flags are actually cavalry standards (go on, get a copy and try and spot them). 
On the subject of uniforms, the New Model Army manages to NOT wear red.
Exploding shells.  You lot complain about Napoleonic artillery shells, what about the 17th century ones. :
Parliament was not outnumbered 2-1 at Naseby.  They outnumbered the Royalists.
There was no stone wall at Naseby.
At Naseby (again) Prince Rupert still has his poodle 'Boy'.  Not bad considering he was killed at Marston Moor (the very important, unmentioned battle).
John Pym postpones his death until after Naseby (he died in 1643).
Cromwell's son (also called Oliver) died of typhoid fever, not at Naseby.

I could go on, I want to give a mention to the little known ECW film 'To Kill a King'.  A complete cowpat of a movie.  I know most films portray Cromwell as a well spoken man and not at all sounding like anyone else from East Anglia, but he's portrayed here (by Tim Roth) as a kind of embittered cockney dwarf. 
There is so much wrong with this movie.  In fact, thinking about it This is ten times worse as Cromwell.

Worst Historical Film - To Kill a King     
Made even worse in that it's a modern (2003) British film about a very British subject.

Quote from: Leveller Mutineer on 28 May 2010, 09:09:45 AM
I'll buck the trend here and go for 'Cromwell'.

Richard Harris earns his fee by turning up everywhere where Cromwell didn't. 
He wasn't one of the five who were in danger of arrest in the House of Commons.  He didn't lead major formations of troops at Edgehill.  He was still only a Captain of Horse and turned up, only at the very end of the battle.  He never led the New Model Army until the Second Civil War (Fairfax was the Lord General). 

Other 'good' mistakes are,
The House of Commons and Lords sitting in the same chamber.
At Edgehill, the Royalists are seen wearing smart uniforms and the Parliamentarians ordinary plain, drab clothes.  In fact it was the other way around as Parliament was the side with all the money.  The flags should be of the same design also.  Some Parliamentarian infantry flags are actually cavalry standards (go on, get a copy and try and spot them). 
On the subject of uniforms, the New Model Army manages to NOT wear red.
Exploding shells.  You lot complain about Napoleonic artillery shells, what about the 17th century ones. :
Parliament was not outnumbered 2-1 at Naseby.  They outnumbered the Royalists.
There was no stone wall at Naseby.
At Naseby (again) Prince Rupert still has his poodle 'Boy'.  Not bad considering he was killed at Marston Moor (the very important, unmentioned battle).
John Pym postpones his death until after Naseby (he died in 1643).
Cromwell's son (also called Oliver) died of typhoid fever, not at Naseby.

I could go on, I want to give a mention to the little known ECW film 'To Kill a King'.  A complete cowpat of a movie.  I know most films portray Cromwell as a well spoken man and not at all sounding like anyone else from East Anglia, but he's portrayed here (by Tim Roth) as a kind of embittered cockney dwarf. 
There is so much wrong with this movie.  In fact, thinking about it This is ten times worse as Cromwell.

Worst Historical Film - To Kill a King     
Made even worse in that it's a modern (2003) British film about a very British subject.

Just looked at the trailer [here if you're interested:

Visually, it looks OK enough for me to watch - and now I've had the anomalies etc listed, it'll be even more fun 

Can't recall the name now, but there was a decent [IIRC] BBC drama last year [?] about the ECW - focused on romance etc etc...

QuoteCan't recall the name now, but there was a decent [IIRC] BBC drama last year [?] about the ECW - focused on romance etc etc...

'The Devil's Whore'.   Very good visually.  Interesting story.  Not for the history buff.  If you want something more historically rewarding then get 'By the Sword Divided'. 

Before anyone asks, I do watch historically based movies on my own. Because no one else can stand being in the same room as me.  My sister tells everyone I completely ruined 'Braveheart' for her. 

There was me thinking I enhanced it. 

Quote from: Leveller Mutineer on 29 May 2010, 12:54:23 PM
There was me thinking I enhanced it. 

Quote'The Devil's Whore'.

That's the one...quite enjoyed it, as you say, for the storyline.

Quote'By the Sword Divided'.

Yes indeed...I remember watching that as a young 'un 

QuoteThere was me thinking I enhanced it.

Just re-watched Cromwell, after many years of it sitting in my `to watch next` DVD collection.

Oh My God, what a load of dribble.... I was majorly disappointed. I remembered it as such a good film as a kid.

Okay, this now goes in my `most hated` pile.

hehe, the mistakes in it are appalling; almost as if Lucas made it on a bad day.

Now that series is one to look out for... I`ll do an Amazon search me thinks.

Steve :-)

re Cromwell: the celebrated prayer "Oh Lord, thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget thee, do not thou forget me." was not uttered by Ollie either. Jacob Astley, wasn't it? A Royalist commander, at that.
   

I've just read all the posts in this thread and I definitely agree about 'Battle of the Bulge' and the Sharpe films. I just can't accept 3 ranks of 20 men pretending to be a French batallion. I always thought Zulu Dawn was a bit naff especially with the uniforms and weapons. Also Waterloo - in the British battle line where are the blue Belgians, green Nassau and black Brunswickers. Add to that all the French lancers wore Polish Guard uniforms. I mean if you have got to make the uniforms in the first place, try to do it correctly.  :

Finally - thank god says everyone - a WW2 turkey. Wheels of Terror based on the Sven Hassell books. American actors pretending to be Germans, driving Russian assault guns masquerading as German tanks - horrendous    

Shaving Ryans Privates

Didn't seem to be anything to do with the sencond world war

Speaking as a cavalry re-enactor sharpe always reminds me of a small re-enactment event. Well apartfrom the explosions, that is.
NAff films oooooh
Patriot
Braveheart -aaaaargggggghhhhh! the bloke spoke Latin and appealed to the pope... he didnt wave his bottom and wear tartan! A mate of mine one met the historical advisor to the film.... Upon being asked why he even admitted it, his reason was... you should have seen it before I got hold of it!
Pearl harbour
Thats all I can think of off the top of my head

"PARRRRRLIAMENT!"

How about "Zulu Dawn" with Burt Lancaster and Bob 'Oskins.

For the AWI, Al Pacino in 'Revolution' was pretty bad.

'The Thin Red Line' was a bit of a turn off too.

The recent thing on Channel 4, 1066 - The Battle For Middle Earth. Absolutely shocking lack of historical depth. It could have been so, so, so much better.

Paschendaele - some bits are visually very good but the storyline is terrible and the overall effect is one of a huge missed opporunity.

Alexander Nevski - I've been trying to get hold of this for years and it was so disapointing

I really enjoy the Eisenstein. Astonishing what he brought off without one zoom shot! And the cutting of that muster of the peasants - if that disappointed you, you must set amazingly high standards.

Battle of the Bulge, Zulu Dawn and Sparticus get my votes. When there repeated on tv they get worse each time you watch them.

I thought Alexander Nevsky was very impressive for its time (though its blatantly propaganda). Here's an interesting comparison of the scratchy old soundtrack and the same scene with a more recent recording of Prokoviev's music.

I think a lot of old films would benefit from a musical facelift or even different soundtracks altogether.

Old
From about 5.30 onwards



Updated

My votes for biggest failures:
U-571 - total crap and bulls..t How could such a fine actors like Kretschmann and Keitel play in such a lie (and this John Bon Jovi killed me really  )
The old Enemy Below movie with Robert Mitchum was thousands times better in every way possible

Battle of Ardennes with Henry Fonda - how could such a fine actor like Fonda play in ... oh, I repeat myself

QuoteHow could such a fine actors like Kretschmann and Keitel play in such a lie

Money?

I think the reason I didn't Like Nevsky more was expecting far more than was delivered.

I saw a newly cleaned copy and the nicely photographed bits were the famous scenes we see all the time, with most of the scenes failing to match the best and the acting letting the whole thing down.